Tevo Howard - Crystal RepublicIt's been pretty well established as to what you'll be getting when you open up a Tevo Howard 12-inch (or two, in this case). Howard doesn't really have much to offer in the way of a twist on his Chicago home's legendary sound. What Howard does better than anyone at the moment, though, is pare down the city's past into enormously effective dance floor material. You'd be hardpressed to say that you haven't heard elements of Howard's productions before elsewhere, but you'd be equally as challenged by offering up examples as tightly constructed and deeply considered.

Crystal Republic continues this trend with six tracks that once again prove that Howard has few contemporaries of note. The title track runs through seven minutes of moody pads and a melody and bassline that play beautifully against one another. "Laboratory" does the same, but to lesser effect, its bassline too powerful for the elements around it to escape. Horns build a ground from which "The Glass Ceiling" overhangs. Twinkling bells and Howard's ever-present drum machine, meanwhile, help to fill it out.

Over on the second vinyl, "Material"'s bassline is just as intrusive as "Laboratory," but the track is balanced nicely by the melodies that Howard employs around it. Like much of the material here, it builds to minor and subtle climaxes throughout, never boiling over, but never letting up either. "Data" in album format and long version finish things off in similar fashion to the rest, highlighting Howard's appeal in a nutshell: If you're into this sound palette, there's virtually no chance you won't find something to play here. If you hate it, Crystal Republic is an easy skip.

Posted by NathanDrewLarsenI have never heard acid like this. While there are certainly plenty of melodic acid tracks to come out of Chicago, Tevo's acid is pastoral in a unique way. Material is a particularly interesting track. I get in the same headspace listening to Material as something like Music for 18 Musicians. The melodic pulses (I describe them this way because they cycle) that interact with the acid create these spacious psycho-acoustic landscapes that are beautiful and nullifying (as to the listener). Tevo’s sound and approach is far afield of most warehouse acid. Here in Chicago, we consider Tevo to be a true artist. Contrary to the suggestion above, your reaction to his music should not be a superficial function of your aesthetic impressions about acid generally.

I have never heard acid like this. While there are certainly plenty of melodic acid tracks to come out of Chicago, Tevo's acid is pastoral in a unique way. Material is a particularly interesting track. I get in the same headspace listening to Material as something like Music for 18 Musicians. The melodic pulses (I describe them this way because they cycle) that interact with the acid create these spacious psycho-acoustic landscapes that are beautiful and nullifying (as to the listener). Tevo’s sound and approach is far afield of most warehouse acid. Here in Chicago, we consider Tevo to be a true artist. Contrary to the suggestion above, your reaction to his music should not be a superficial function of your aesthetic impressions about acid generally.

More on Tevo Howard

I started to DJ at roughly thirteen or fourteen years old, putting us back to about 1987. After a knee injury in a skateboard accident (I wiped out) in 1987, I found myself sitting at home, bored, and with little interests other than skateboarding and music. With skateboarding out of the picture, I could only gather to mess around with the turntables that sat in the room my brothers and I all shared. I remember thinking that being a DJ was a hobby that wasn’t either illegal, or dangerous, and that it would be fun to DJ my own music as opposed to my brother’s music. I walked down to Gramaphone..View the full artist profile